Arsenal narrowly misses bid for tournament final

One late goal in pool play killed Manteca Futbol Club Arsenal’s chances to vie for the championship of the Modesto Ajax Winter Invitational this past weekend.

The under-14 girls squad settled on a spot in the consolation game, where it lost to the Dublin Fury, 3-0.

Despite the disappointing finish, coach Jay Mamorno was proud of the effort showed by his undermanned squad of 12 players.

“We had a great tournament, they just kind of ran out of gas at the end there,” Mamorno said.

The difference was the final match in the preliminary round. Arsenal had a berth to the title match locked up with a 2-0 lead on Davis Velocity, but the eighth-ranked team in Northern California scored what would otherwise be a meaningless goal with 10 seconds left to cut the deficit in half.

Manteca FC was bumped out of the running for the championship because of the goal-differential tiebreaker.

The Arsenal went into the consolation match without a loss having tied its first two. They battled Santa Clara Sporting to a scoreless draw and scored the tying goal of a 1-1 finish with under five minutes remaining against Elk Grove Demolition.

Mamorno said the defense shined all tournament long, with goalkeeper Ashley Almeida making key saves. Molly Brady, Haley Cook, Ebony Ezeji and Daisy Rivera anchored the stout play on the back line.

Wrestling

ESCALON — Mattew Trejo led four placers for the Lancer Youth Wrestling Club during a tournament at Escalon High Sunday.Trejo took first in the 75-pound bantam division. Kody Justis took third (138, middle school), Kyle Bean third (112, novice), Anthony Salgado fourth (75, novice) and Lucas Widmer fourth (120, middle school.

The Lancers will next compete at Golden Valley High in Merced Sunday. The team is still accepting signups for the season and practices Mondays and Wednesdays at East Union High. Visit its website at www.mantecafreestyleclub.com for more information.